Secretary's Remarks: Remarks

SECRETARY RICE: All right. I
wanted to come down before the Thanksgiving holiday and
before some significant meetings that I’ll participate in
next week, just to give you a little bit of an update on
where we are on a couple of issues and then I’m happy to
take your questions.

As you know, I’m going to travel
to Brussels to attend the NATO foreign ministers meeting
that takes place on December 2nd and 3rd. I’ll have a
number of meetings during those days. As usually happens,
we’ll talk about the international agenda more broadly, as
well perhaps, in some bilaterals with my colleagues. But the
primary focus will be on NATO’s work, on the work that
we’re doing together in Afghanistan, and on making certain
we’re doing everything that we can within the NATO-Georgia
Commission and the NATO-Ukraine mission to support those
states.

I expect a good discussion on the important
topics. I just want to say a word about the question of
Georgia and Ukraine because there have been some stories
about what it is that is being discussed there. There is a
British idea – and I want to emphasize not an American
idea, a British idea – that we look at different ways to
fulfill the terms of the Bucharest Declaration. As you
remember the Bucharest Declaration says that at some point
in time, Georgia and Ukraine will be members of NATO. It
does not anticipate or suggest there would be lower
standards for entry into NATO. It does not suggest that
there needs to be an accelerated time table. It is the same
open-door policy that we’ve had about meeting standards,
but it does say that Georgia and Ukraine will be members of
NATO.

How they get there, what mechanisms are used – we
believe that the NATO-Georgia Commission and the
NATO-Ukraine Commission can be the bodies with which we
intensify our dialogue and our activities with Georgia and
NATO. And therefore, there does not need at this point in
time to be any discussion of MAP. And so this is the nature
of this. It really is just a question of how we would
execute the Bucharest decision. It is not a change in
policy.

I want to say just a couple of other things that
are not, of course, concerned with my trip to Europe. But
next week we will also have in Beijing a meeting of the
Six-Parties heads of delegation. Chris Hill will lead our
delegation. And the focus on that meeting will be for the
Six-Parties to sign on to the Verification Protocol that has
been initialed by the United States and North Korea on
behalf of the parties. And again, how does this work? The
United States has been the chair of the subgroup on
verification of the denuclearization working group, which
the Chinese chair. And we have a document; we also have a
number of assurances and a number of understandings that now
will need to be codified by the Six Parties.

Let me just
say one final thing, which is to just note that we have a
lot of men and women from the Foreign Service, from the
Civil Service, from other government agencies, but a lot of
State Department people serving very far away from home as
we come upon the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is,
frankly, my favorite holiday because it’s a time for
reflection, it’s a time for gratefulness, it’s a time to
be with family and friends. I know that in places like Kabul
and Baghdad and across the world, while our officers will
not be able to be with families, that they will be with
friends.

And I just want to underscore that one of the
things that I will give thanks for this Thanksgiving, and
that I’m immensely grateful for, is the extraordinary
service of our people around the world, for their tremendous
dedication and commitment, and for the personal joy and
honor that it has been as Secretary of State to serve with
them. And so my very special Thanksgiving prayer will be for
our men and women in uniform, for our diplomats abroad, for
all of the Americans who are serving abroad in the service
of U.S. interests and values.

And let me close with a
very happy Thanksgiving to all of you as
well.

QUESTION: Thank you. Madame Secretary, can
you --

SECRETARY RICE: Yes,
Matt.

QUESTION: Today, the Iraqi parliament has
decided to delay the vote on the SOFA deal until tomorrow.
And there is also a discussion now about a referendum that
might take – that might happen which could crater the
entire deal even if the parliament approves it. I’m
wondering what you think of, first, the delay and also the
possibility of a referendum.

And then if I might, also
just wondering what your thoughts are on the Venezuelan
election.

SECRETARY RICE: In terms of delay, it’s
a democratic process and it is taking some time. But I
expect that they’re going to continue to work on it and
that they will – that it is in the COR and that it’s
being discussed. And I don’t know precisely when they’ll
take a vote, but I do know that Prime Minister Maliki and
Speaker Mashhadani are committed to having a vote and having
a vote very soon.

As to the referendum, it’s my
understanding that such a referendum would, of course, be
subject also to a new law to organize a referendum, but that
in any case, it would not delay the going into force of the
SOFA and the Strategic Forces – the Strategic Framework
Agreement as of the 1st of the year.

QUESTION: So
you have no concerns about the whole idea?

SECRETARY
RICE: Well, look, I haven’t seen the language. I have
not had – I talked to Ambassador Crocker, but of course,
this is going on in Iraqi politics. But my understanding is
that nothing here delays the entry into force of the
agreement, and that’s really the important
point.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Venezuela?

SECRETARY
RICE: What? Oh, Venezuela, sorry. Well, it means that
opposition is alive and well in Venezuela. It means that
some of the policies of the government which have, frankly,
not been in the interest of the Venezuelan people, are being
opposed by Venezuelans. I think it is important to note that
at least the opposition has been able to express itself, and
the United States has stood firmly for the democratic
process in Venezuela.

But I also want to note that the
United States has stood as firmly for the view that it is
our work to have a positive agenda for our engagement with
the people of Latin America; not to get involved in their
internal politics, not to have litmus tests of left or
right, but to stand for the things that we believe that
democratically elected governments that are governing wisely
stand for, which is economic growth and trade and the
ability to deliver for their people in terms of social
justice. And so we’re going to continue to pursue that.
But obviously, the opposition in Venezuela has made its
voice known and that’s important.

QUESTION:
Secretary Rice, a follow-up on Venezuela?

SECRETARY
RICE: Yeah, yeah. Pardon me?

QUESTION: A
follow-up on Venezuela?

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah,
sure.

QUESTION: Russian ships are now in the waters
off Venezuela. What do you make of this? What should – do
you take this as a threat, these joint exercises?

SECRETARY RICE: Oh, I don’t think there’s any
confusion about the balance of power in the Western
Hemisphere. And so just as the United States believes that
we can have good relations and can engage to
military-to-military contacts wherever there are countries
that wish to have us do so, I assume that we can say the
same about Latin America. But I just don’t think there’s
any question about who has the preponderance of power in the
Western Hemisphere.

Secondly, I would note that the –
Venezuela, as a regional actor, has a number of conflicts
and has had some destabilizing behavior toward some of its
– towards some of the states in the region. And so it is
important that that be taken note of and that anything that
is done in this hemisphere does not further exacerbate the
effect of Venezuelan policies on neighbors like Colombia.
But you know, a few Russian ships is not going to change the
balance of power.

QUESTION: Secretary Rice, on –
on Iran.

SECRETARY RICE: Yes.

QUESTION:
There’s a report today quoting a senior Iranian official
as saying that the Iranians now have 5,000 working
centrifuges spinning. One, do you have any reason to believe
that that report is true, or do you view it as an
exaggeration?

Two, the Obama – President-elect Obama
has, during the course of the campaign, signaled a
willingness to talk or to engage more with the Iranians and
with fewer conditions than the Bush Administration has. Do
you see any particular danger in such engagement ahead of
the Iranian elections and the possibility that Iranian
particular actors could use it for their own electoral or
political gain?

And lastly, on an interests section, can
you rule out the possibility of an interests section being
opened in Tehran by the U.S. Government during this
Administration? And if so, can you give us some kind of a
feel for what are – what is your hesitance about this? It
would give you eyes and ears on the ground for the first
time in a very, very long time and would allow you to reach
out to the people in a way that is much harder when you
don’t have people on the ground.

SECRETARY RICE:
All right, the three questions that Arshad has asked. First
of all, I have actually myself not seen the report that you
referenced, but we tend to rely on the IAEA because it’s
not clear that one gets a clearer picture from – it is
clear that one does not get a clear picture from the
Iranians on these issues. So we rely on the IAEA.

The
point is that they are continuing to pursue enrichment and
reprocessing capability. They are continuing to try to
perfect the technologies that could lead to a nuclear
weapons technology. And that is what the international
coalition that we have put together, the P-5+1, is trying to
stop. And of course, it’s produced Security Council
resolutions. It has produced national measures that are
putting pressures on the Iranians. It is a country that is
more and more isolated, whose economy is in very tough
shape, and where there’s actually a lot of criticism of
the policies of the government in advance of this election.
And so I do think that there is considerable pressure on the
Iranian Government, and one has to hope that the Iranians
will start to – that Iranians will start to emerge who
wish to reverse this isolation.

In terms of what the
President-elect may choose to do, I’m not going to
comment. I will give my advice and analysis to my successor
when that person is named, and I’ll do so privately, and
then you won’t hear from me again on it.

When it comes
to the interests section, the President took an in-principle
decision based on his belief and our belief that in the
context of a policy that is firm – and I want to emphasize
firm – in the face of Iranian nuclear ambitions, Iranian
aggression in the Middle East, and Iran’s oppression of
its own people, that a presence, an increased presence for
the United States that would focus on the Iranian people –
that is, the ability to facilitate visas, the ability to be
a place to which Iranians could come, much as the interests
section acts in Havana – that in the context of a firm
policy, this is something that the United States might want
to pursue. We have continued to pursue how that might go
forward.

But frankly, the point at which we most likely
would have done it, we were right in the middle of the
Georgia-Russia conflict, and then a number of other
international events I think just made it difficult to do.
And so I think that within the context of a firm policy
toward Iran, something that reaches out to the Iranian
people is very important. And you rightly say that eyes on
the ground is also very valuable. But it is awfully
important that it be understood that the constituency here
is not the Iranian regime, but the Iranian people. At this
late moment, I think it is probably better that this
decision be left to the next administration.

QUESTION: And just so that I’m clear, you began
by saying that the President had taken a firm decision in
the context of --

SECRETARY RICE: I said an
in-principle decision in the context of a firm policy toward
Iran.

QUESTION: Okay, just so we’re clear, the
in-principle decision was conditional that this was
something the U.S. Government perhaps should pursue or was
that this was something the U.S. Government should
do?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, we were – on the basis
of his decision, we were actually doing the work that would
be needed to do to see how it could be implemented and what
it could do. Because the one thing we wanted to be very
clear was that it would have to have the capability actually
to issue visas.

QUESTION: Right.

SECRETARY
RICE: Now, there were intervening events that I think
made it not a good time to raise this with the Iranian
regime, because obviously we would have had to raise it with
the Iranian regime. But in the context of a policy that
resists Iranian aggression and that clearly does that so
that there are no mixed messages, particularly to regional
allies who have great concerns about Iran’s hegemonistic
ambitions, it’s something that one could do.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary.

SECRETARY
RICE: Yes.

QUESTION: About NATO?

SECRETARY RICE: Yes.

QUESTION: You said
that there is not going to be any need for discussion on
MAP. Does it mean that you agree with the arguments of the
Europeans that Georgia and Ukraine are not ready for MAP?

SECRETARY RICE: Georgia and --

QUESTION:
And what exactly do you want these commissions --

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah.

QUESTION: --
NATO-Georgia and NATO-Ukraine to do effectively?

SECRETARY RICE: Georgia and Ukraine are not ready
for membership. That is very clear. The point of view of the
United States was stated at Bucharest that we think –
thought that MAP is a way to prepare countries for
membership. But there are other ways to prepare countries
for membership. I would note that Poland the Czech Republic
never had MAPs, for instance. And so we do have the
Georgia-Ukraine – the Georgia-NATO and the Ukraine-NATO
Commissions. Intensifying our work within them, intensifying
our contacts within them is, we believe, a good alternative
and will send a very strong signal that, while these
countries are not ready for membership and still have many,
many standards that they would have to meet, that we will
remain true to the Bucharest Declaration that they will, at
some point in the future, be members of NATO.

Yes.

QUESTION: I want to follow up on Arshad, actually.

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah.

QUESTION: Just to
be clear, The U.S. did not raise this idea with the
Iranians?

SECRETARY RICE: No. With the Iranians,
no.

QUESTION: Do you have any sense of whether
they are supportive of the idea of having American diplomats
in Iran?

SECRETARY RICE: I do not know whether they
are. You know, we’ve seen public statements both ways. But
for us, the issue was and always was – and the reason that
it took some time to try and figure out how we would
implement such a decision – that this would have to be a
platform for serving the Iranian people, facilitating their
contact with the United States, facilitating the kinds of
exchanges that we have done. We’ve had Iranian basketball
teams and artists and disaster relief workers. They have
hosted the American wresting team. And this has to be about
the Iranian people. And it is not – it’s not an
uncomplicated matter. And let me not use a double negative.
But it is a complicated matter as to how one arranges such
an interests section under the conditions that (inaudible)
in Iran.

Yes.

QUESTION: I wonder, given the
fact that there has been cooperation between the
Administration and the transition team on the economy, on
issues like North Korea, Iran, Iraq, the Middle East peace
process, have you consulted with anyone in the transition
team when you make those decisions to leave the interests
section decision for later, to go to the Six-Party Talks in
North Korea?

SECRETARY RICE: No, we’re not at
that level of detail. But when we have had a transition team
working here, they’ve had, I think, very good discussions.
I met with some of them yesterday. We’ve talked about
various issues, both in terms of management of the
Department and in terms of policy issues and where we’re
leaving them. When I have a successor named and John
Negroponte has a successor named, I expect that we’ll have
more intensive discussions about those matters, because we
would want – I would want my successor to be fully
informed and ready to hit the ground running on day one. And
so we will have those discussions, and we’ve been doing
them at the level of the transition teams, but obviously,
when there are actual successors that will facilitate it.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary.

SECRETARY
RICE: Yes.

QUESTION: I just want to go back to
SOFA for a moment.

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah.

QUESTION: You’ve mentioned that you believe
there will eventually be a vote, but are you aware of some
of the issues that have come out in press reports and there
have been source reports about bartering issues and possible
secret language, and also the possibility that there are
massive differences in interpretation and in translation?

SECRETARY RICE: We believe that these are
conforming texts. I don’t speak Arabic, but one of the
things that we do with the Iraqis is that we go line by line
to conform the text and to make sure that there is common
understanding of what is meant here. And of course, there
are – first of all, there isn’t any secret language. Of
course, there are issues that are opposed by some in the
Iraqi political system and supported by others. It’s a
democracy, and people are going to have their views and
their says.

But I want to underscore a couple of things
about the agreements. First, the SOFA and the Strategic
Framework Agreement allow the United States to continue to
be a partner for Iraq on the military side through the SOFA
with a legal basis for our forces that allows us to help the
Iraqis fully secure the gains that have been made, and does
so with respect for Iraqi sovereignty. And that’s the
reason that the SOFA has been negotiated in the way that it
has.

The Strategic Framework Agreement is a broader
document that talks about the broader relationship and the
continuity over time of our efforts on the economic and
social and cultural sides.

But what we should not lose
sight of here is that this is an agreement with a major Arab
state that is being publicly debated in a democratic
environment in the center of the Middle East. And that is an
enormous achievement. And when the vote takes place, as
Prime Minister Maliki and others have intended it to, we
will move forward.

Yes.

QUESTION: Also, to follow
up on Iran --

SECRETARY RICE:
Yeah.

QUESTION: Short of opening an interests
section, are there interim measures that you guys would
consider suggesting, or at least maybe bringing to the next
administration? I was able to talk with some Iranian
officials recently, and they talk of things like loosening
restrictions on their journalists in the United States or
giving Iran credit for an increased security in Iraq. I
mean, are those things that --

SECRETARY RICE:
Well, let me just speak to the credit to Iran for security
in Iraq. I don’t think so.

QUESTION: They
don’t deserve it?

SECRETARY RICE: No. I’m sorry
to say that the Iranians cause nothing but trouble in the
south. And their allies were defeated in Basra. That’s
what happened. The increased security in the south is
because the special groups that they trained and equipped
were defeated by the Iraqi army. Now, if that was a
contribution to security, so be it. I think I would
characterize it in a slightly different way.

I want to
just underscore a couple of things that we have done to
prepare our country for the long run concerning Iraq. There
was no office of Iraqi affairs in the Department of State,
believe it or not, before we came here.

QUESTION:
Of Iranian.

SECRETARY RICE: I’m sorry. Of Iranian
affairs. Yeah, there were plenty on Iraqi affairs. There was
not on Iranian affairs. And we now have an office devoted to
that. We put the facility in Dubai to give – to get us
closer to the Iranian people, to allow them to have easier
access to visa facilitation, easier access to us.

I’ve
mentioned a number of the programs that we have done in
terms of exchanges. I remember quite well myself meeting
with some Iranian artists. It was a fantastic experience.
And I was just talking with David Stern, and the Iranian
basketball team was just here.

And so there are a lot of
things that we have done to reach out to the Iranian people,
and I think to – I should also mention a tremendous
emphasis on training our officers in – our Foreign Service
officers in Farsi, because the fact is that over almost –
well, now it is almost 30 years since the United States left
Iran. I do think there was a deterioration in our capability
to speak the languages, understand the country. The people
who have been in Iran, most of them were – who had Iranian
experience, most of them had retired. And so we’ve been
trying to rebuild that cohort. And that is extremely
important for the United States to do, is to build its
capability on Iran, because it’s an important country.
It’s going to be an important country for a long
time.

But our focus has been to try and make clear to the
Iranian people that there is a different road than their
government is taking in terms of engagement with the
international community, that isolation does not have to be
the course.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, how do you
assess the status of FYROM vis-à-vis to NATO due to the
upcoming ministerial meeting in December, as you told
(inaudible), and do you expect any problems by them since
the U.S. Government decides FYROM become a NATO member? And
also, if you can tell us about the Visa Waiver Program for
Greece.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, we are still trying
to fulfill the requirements. Greece is still working on some
of the requirements. We sincerely hope it will happen soon.
I think the President said that at the time of the ceremony
that he had in – at the White House.

In terms of the –
of Macedonia, it is our great hope that this name issue can
be resolved. I keep saying quickly – it’s obviously not
going to be resolved quickly. But it is important that both
sides recognize that whatever happens on the name issue, the
real benefit here of the incorporation of Macedonia into
NATO – it will benefit NATO, it will benefit Macedonia, it
will benefit Greece, it will benefit the Balkans. And so Dan
Fried, in particular, has been trying to work with
Ambassador Nimetz to get a compromise, and we continue to
try to do so.

A couple more? Yeah.

QUESTION:
Madame Secretary, do you expect any further initiatives –
specific initiatives between now and the end of the
Administration on any of the sort of major issues that have
been facing you during this time?

SECRETARY RICE:
Oh, I don’t know.

QUESTION: And on the North
Korea issue, do you expect to have a signed, sealed,
delivered verification protocol by the end of that Six-Party
meeting that will be agreed upon?

SECRETARY RICE:
Well, that is the purpose of the meeting. There is no other
purpose for the meeting. And so we have had some discussions
with all the parties. I had extensive discussions with my
Chinese counterpart, as the President did with President Hu,
as well as with the South Koreans, the Japanese, and with
the Russians. And so this needs to get done. I might just
note that the disabling has resumed and it needs to continue
to conclusion. But this verification protocol is now the
key.

As to other initiatives, look, we continue to work on
making certain that the pillars of Annapolis, including what
is going on on the ground, are solid and strong and moving
forward. Interesting piece in the newspapers this morning
about Hebron and the movement of Palestinian forces into
Hebron, which I think is something most people didn’t
think they would ever see. And we will continue to work on
those kinds of issues.

I also am now very actively engaged
on the issue – the piracy issue. I had extensive
discussions with the Russians, the Chinese, the Panamanians,
the – lots of people about the problem that is there with
piracy. We will see what more needs to be done through the
UN. It’s kind of ironic. Thomas Jefferson came in worried
about pirates. It looks like I’m going to leave worried
about pirates. But it is seriously an important issue to
maintain freedom of navigation of the seas. And some of it,
of course, comes – well, most of it comes from the
instability in Somalia. So that is also an issue that
we’re spending a lot of time on, and how to get a support
– peacekeeping support for the forces that are on the
ground in Somalia, and those are the Ethiopian, Ugandan, and
Burundian forces.

QUESTION: Madame
Secretary?

SECRETARY RICE: Yes. You had a question
here.

QUESTION: I tried to think
--

QUESTION: Going back to Annapolis, can you
--

SECRETARY RICE: Yes.

QUESTION: -- talk
about your meetings with the Israeli Prime Minister this
week and give us a sense of where the process stands at this
point?

SECRETARY RICE: Yes. Well, again, as –
there is still a lot that – even in complicated political
times that can be done. The Prime Minister continues his
discussions with Abu Mazen and the negotiators continue
their discussions. And I think they’re continuing to work
to narrow differences. They are continuing to have pretty
intensive discussions on all of the issues.

They – you
may have noticed the release of prisoners that the Prime
Minister recently did in terms of the Palestinians. And the
work on the ground in terms of the security forces is moving
forward, and I think moving forward in a very positive way.
So everybody continues to work to deliver on the goals of
Annapolis. The political situation, in general, makes it
difficult perhaps to finish an agreement, but there is
certainly a lot of work that can be done and we’ll see
where they are over the next couple of
months.

QUESTION: Can I just follow up a
bit?

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah.
Uh-huh.

QUESTION: Shimon Peres has been saying
publicly that he supports the spirit of this resurrected
Saudi peace plan from 2002. Are you getting any sense
--

SECRETARY RICE: Yes.

QUESTION: -- that
the Israeli Government are at all seriously considering that
plan?

SECRETARY RICE: We’re talking about that,
because the Arab Peace Initiative – previously the Crown
Prince Initiative – does offer a kind of broader framework
in which one could understand what needs to be achieved in
order to have broad peace in the Middle East, not just the
conclusion of a Palestinian-Israeli plan. And I’m very
pleased that a lot of good discussions are going on about
precisely that, and yes, we are talking about how it might
be used.

QUESTION: So you’re supportive of it as
it stands?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I think we’ve
been supportive all along. As you remember, the Arab Peace
Initiative is one of the elements mentioned in the Annapolis
declaration.

Yes.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, on
Afghanistan --

SECRETARY RICE:
Yes.

QUESTION: -- Minister Karzai’s been sharply
critical of how the war is being waged. He’s asking why
NATO has been unable to defeat the Taliban. He’s asking or
suggesting the possibility of setting a definite timeline
for the end of the war. And he’s even saying that if he
had his way, he would stop American and NATO aircraft from
bombing. What’s your response to that?

SECRETARY
RICE: I think we have to do – and I’ve had lots of
conversations with President Karzai, and I’ve assured him
that we too are concerned about what he is concerned about,
which is civilian casualties. I think we all understand too
that the Taliban operates in a way that puts them in
civilian areas, making it difficult to respond to their
aggressions.

But there are a number of things that we are
doing. You know that there is an Afghan review underway to
look at some of our – some of the elements of our policy
and to see what we need to do differently and what more we
can do to build on what has already been achieved there. I
would just note that one of the most important achievements
and something that really can be built on is Afghan military
forces, the Afghan army, because ultimately, the Taliban is
going to also have to be defeated by Afghans. This is not
for NATO to do. This is for NATO to do with the Afghan
people.

It’s also going to be very important that
governance improve, and I understand that there are places
where security is prohibitive to get strong governance. But
the building of the institutions, the fight against
corruption, the work to make sure that ministries are
operating, that is work that we need to do in partnership
with Afghanistan and in partnership with President Karzai.
And I’m quite certain that he is devoted to that goal as
well.

And finally, as to a timetable, I don’t think one
sets timetables on when wars end. We’d like it to end as
soon as possible. And if we do the right things, I think you
will see that it will. But I just wanted to note that while
there are difficulties in Afghanistan, there are also a lot
of assets in Afghanistan to deal with the problem. And one
of the things that has changed over the last couple of years
that we’re really working very hard on is that clearly,
the interaction between Pakistan and Afghanistan, while it
is improving at a political level, particularly under
President Zardari and President Karzai, the increasing
problems in the FATA have created new circumstances for
Afghanistan. And getting a hold of that and working with the
new Pakistani Government to deal with that space, that
geographic space, is extremely urgent and important.

Just
a couple of last questions. Yes.

QUESTION: Madame
Secretary, Iran has launched yesterday a new rocket into
space. How do you view this new (inaudible)?

SECRETARY
RICE: Well, I don’t know. And look, the Iranians are
launching things all the time. I would hope that they would
be instead trying to work toward not being so isolated in
the international system. But again, I don’t think anybody
– I’ll say the same thing I said about the Western
Hemisphere. I don’t think anybody is confused about the
balance of power in the Gulf either.

And the United
States has had a period of enhancing the capabilities of our
allies in the region. You know of a number of the packages,
security cooperation packages, to places like UAE, Saudi
Arabia, and et cetera. So we have enhanced the – and the
Israelis. We have enhanced the capabilities of our allies.
The United States has increased its presence in the region.
We also have begun to take advantage of the potential of
missile defense in the region, and that is probably the best
answer to some of these Iranian efforts, is to make certain
that we are fully exploiting the technologies and the
sophistication that the United States can bring to missile
defense into other technological answers to any Iranian
buildup.

We also have worked hard to caution states that
might sell weapons technology to Iran that it is
destabilizing to the region and that it should not be done.
And so there’s a program for dealing with the Iranian
efforts to – aggressive efforts. But I don’t think we
– I think we want to continue on the course that we’re
on, which is enhancing the capability of our allies,
enhancing our own capabilities, and exploiting the potential
for missile defense.

Thank you very
much.

QUESTION: Can we do one on
Zimbabwe?

QUESTION: And what do you think of
another – another woman succeeding you? What do you think
about it?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I’m going to give
President-elect Obama the courtesy of waiting until he makes
an announcement. And I have heard some names of some great
people, and I think that the Department and the country will
be in good hands. But I think I’ll wait until there’s an
actual announcement on it.

QUESTION: What is your
relationship with Hillary Clinton like?

SECRETARY
RICE: I told you I was going to wait, Libby, until
there’s an actual announcement. Okay?
(Laughter.)

QUESTION: Have you heard --

QUESTION: (Inaudible) the NFL?

SECRETARY
RICE: Well, you know, I will just say this to close.
There’s nothing like sitting there in front of the
television trying to catch a glimpse of the highlights of
your Cleveland Browns, when they actually had won for once,
and seeing your name across – yeah, seeing your name crawl
across and thinking, but this is ESPN, this isn’t CNN,
this isn’t Time. Let me just say that I haven’t had any
discussions with the 49ers and
affiliates.

QUESTION: One more on Secretary
Gates?

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah.

QUESTION:
What is your reaction to the news that he may be staying --

SECRETARY RICE: Libby, I’m going to wait until
there are announcements, and then I’ll get back to you.
Thank you.

QUESTION: Can we do one on Zimbabwe,
which is a major issue that --

SECRETARY RICE:
Sure. I will take one on Zimbabwe. Yeah.

QUESTION:
The Foreign Minister of Botswana today said that
Zimbabwe’s neighbors should take more forceful action to
squeeze Mugabe out of power.

SECRETARY RICE: We
would agree.

QUESTION: One – yeah. One of the
things he talked about was closing off borders so as to
prevent the flow of goods in. Here’s the question. The
South Africans have never shown – the South African
Government has never shown a willingness to get very hard
with Mugabe, and I wonder if you think that the idea of, for
example, closing off borders is now something that the
neighbors should consider, or that just inflicts --

SECRETARY RICE: I – yeah, look, I don’t – I
can’t comment on a proposal of that kind. I think that
would be very, very difficult. But I do know that – I
would just note that the United States has sought a number
of sanctions resolutions in the Security Council. We’ve
not been able to do it. We’ve done some, but we’ve not
been able to do ones that I think really have teeth. The
United States has therefore done a number of things
unilaterally. I think that the Europeans have worked very
hard at this. There are a number of African states that have
spoken out.

But frankly, we need more help from the
region. And I think it is short-sighted on the part of the
region to let this continue, because it looks to me as if
what Mugabe is doing is that he is pulling as much power
into his own hands as he possibly can. MDC, I think, is
being squeezed out and intimidated. And what started out as
power-sharing talks don’t look very promising. And if this
goes in that direction, then the impact on South Africa is
going to be very great, because you have a lot of displaced
people living in South Africa who hope to go home if
Zimbabwe becomes more stable. So it is short-sighted for the
region to allow Mugabe to do this, and I believe that the
region has the capacity to put enough pressure on him to get
a reasonable power-sharing arrangement.

QUESTION:
How so?

SECRETARY RICE: By making very clear that
the region, not just – and by the way, if the region makes
it clear, I think they’ll have tougher standards in the
– tougher action in the international community as well.

Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.

QUESTION: Thank
you, Madame Secretary.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) come
to Beijing (inaudible)?

SECRETARY RICE: We have –
the Chinese have issued an invitation. The United States has
accepted.

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